Recommended Reading, May 4, 2025

Robert Cox

05 May 2025 — 5 min read

Me at the parade in Ho Chi Minh City on April 30, 1995 as the Vietnamese Communist Party celebrated the Fall of Saigon 20 years earlier.

DUBLIN, IRELAND (May 4, 2025) — This newsletter is called Words in Edgewise for a reason— it is a platform for me to share my opinions and personal observations as opposed to straight news coverage like on Talk of the Sound. Often that entails commentary on news in Westchester — and sometimes involved observations on Southeast Asia.

Last Thursday, while reading posts on X about the April 30, 2025 parade in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end and Vietnam’s reunification, I was struck by images of a modern, vibrant Saigon. The news coverage contrasted sharply with my memories of the city during its celebration of the 20th anniversary in 1995, 30 years earlier, when I visited as one of the few Americans present for the unification celebration.

I decided to share my experience 30 years ago as an American, traveling to Saigon in 1995 which was both uncommon and risky. The absence of U.S.-Vietnam diplomatic relations left no consular support for emergencies. I secured a visa using my Irish EU passport, but Vietnamese security likely flagged me as American—possibly even before I boarded my flight from Bangkok, and certainly given my accent and background. Constant surveillance, including tapped phone calls and minders, underscored the government’s caution during the anniversary.

When I visited Saigon in April 1995, I had little grasp of what I saw as I roamed the city. But when I uploaded those old photos to Grok AI, I was amazed at the details it uncovered—locations, buildings, points of interest, street signs, banners, and even translating the Vietnamese language. Grok pulled so much from those images that I could piece together a much richer account of my trip than I could have managed back in 1995. Here is my series about my weekend marking the Fall of Saigon.